Sell Apartments

Resale – ZIEGERT sells flats

From private owners to private buyers

Better than new and ready for immediate occupancy? There are many reasons people opt to purchase an existing flat. The high demand for such properties is reflected in price developments and sales speed: ZIEGERT currently needs just two and a half months to find a buyer for your flat in Berlin.

Optimally calculated selling price

First and foremost, the right price and optimal timing are decisive for your sales success. A sale is only successful when the offer and price are in fair proportion. While supply and demand are still the most lasting determinants of price, the individuality of your property should also be considered. If the price is too low, you’re giving away money. If you aim too high, you’ll alienate prospective buyers.

Those looking to sell a flat in Berlin at the moment can count on finding many interested buyers. New residential construction currently meets just 25 percent of demand, with between 40,000 and 50,000 new arrivals coming to the city annually. That’s why price increases and appreciation for flats in Berlin have been about ten percent per year in recent years. But experts predict that the increases will level off; now is a good time to think about selling your privately used flat.

Market and target group analysis

The property market in Berlin is booming, but the upswing in price and demand has not been spread evenly across the city. In Marzahn and Spandau, owner-occupied flats are still selling for 1,900 euros per square metre; in Mitte, this number can exceed 4,000 – and these are average values that don’t take into account the quality of the location, the interior, or the structural condition. An accurate picture of your flat’s value can only be obtained by continuously monitoring the offers for similar flats in your area.

In this, ZIEGERT offers you professional support based on 30 years of experience in the Berlin market for owner-occupied flats, our own property market research, and the Berlin Condominium Report, which we’ve been publishing for five years now. Based on the information we collect along with a thorough inspection and in-depth review of your flat, our experts determine a price according to a sales comparison approach – that is, by analysing all comparable flat offers in the area and using that to determine a first market price.

Who are your buyers?

But that’s not all. Because new residents are constantly coming to Berlin and because the origin and economic ability of potential buyers changes as much as does the population composition, we also conduct a target group analysis for each offer. Who’s currently looking to buy a flat in your neighbourhood? To answer that question, we consider not just household size (according to persons), income, and assets, but also preferences vis-à-vis interiors, transportation connections, etc. This information, too, informs our price proposal.

Do you have all your paperwork?

Land register record, minutes from owners’ meetings, energy pass – do you have all the documents you need to sell your property? Potential buyers naturally want to know exact details about your flat; you don’t want to be missing any information in your sales discussions. Our experts are glad to assist you in getting together your documents and pleased to help out if, for example, your energy pass is missing. The paperwork required for the sale also serves as the basis for a professional listing.

What makes your flat special?

Every flat is unique and has its own special features: a view, an element that can’t be found elsewhere. Owners who inhabit their flats tend to design their homes lovingly and according to their own personal tastes. But precisely because of this, private sellers often describe their property in the most glowing light possible, both on the phone and in the listing. Unfortunately, this can generate misconceptions about the actual condition and interior of the flat. It’s thus advisable for sellers to take some inward distance, to step back and look at the flat objectively, without emotion. This saves both the seller and the prospective buyers much disappointment and potential hassle. In addition, an understanding of the target group’s and potential buyer’s needs can help determine the financial value of individual features.

Listing

To achieve the best selling price, you need to find a buyer whose expectations align as closely as possible with your offer. For that, you need the appropriate promotional materials. These include, among other things, expressive and effective photos of your flat and a listing that not only informs, but also emotionalises. Particularly those buyers who plan to inhabit the flat they purchase are driven 80 percent by their gut. A good listing must thus always highlight the uniqueness of a flat and the feelings it evokes.

Multichannel marketing

When all the paperwork is ready, it’s time to move onto marketing – perfectly prepared. Today, the first ports of call for private property sales are the popular online portals; Immobilienscout24 and Co. now have a market share of more than 80 percent in property listings. To ensure that ZIEGERT clients don’t get lost in the crowd, your flat is also advertised on our homepage and via regular newsletters. With these and our social media tools, we regularly reach more than 100,000 prospective buyers.

Accessibility

The accessibility of the seller is also important for the success of a listing. Plan to publish your offer at a time when you’re not at work or on vacation. Prospective buyers won’t try to reach you ten times; if they keep getting your answering machine, they’ll reach out to other sellers. At ZIEGERT, we’ve adapted ourselves to the needs of increasingly mobile flat seekers. Those who discover their dream apartment one night while surfing the web on their couch will find, if they call immediately, a competent contact person on the phone, not a call centre employee – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. More importantly, we enable prompt viewings, even in the evenings and on weekends.

Price negotiations

“Is there any flexibility on the price?” This classic buyer question usually comes up at the very first viewing, often when a purchase hasn’t even been seriously considered. Yield any ground, and you’ll usually find yourself facing elaborate and, in the end, probably fruitless negotiations. Announcing that the price is fixed and that there are other interested buyers, by contrast, restores equal footing to a sales discussion. At ZIEGERT, we sell around 1,000 owner-occupied flats each year without price negotiations. And thanks to the often significant buyer interest, there’s even room for improvement.

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